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I like Civ5, but I'm not sure about paying almost $30 for an expansion pack…. I'll wait until it comes down a bit…
2K Games and Firaxis Games announced today that Sid Meier's Civilization® V: Gods & Kings, the expansion pack for the award-winningCivilization V, is now available for Windows-based PC and Mac in North America and will be available internationally on June 22, 2012. Sid Meier's Civilization V: Gods & Kings enhances the Civilization V experience with new gameplay content and provides even more ways for players to achieve world domination. Spanning the breadth of human civilization, the Gods & Kings expansion pack takes players from founding the first Pantheon of the Gods and spreading religion across the world, to deploying spies in enemy cities to steal information and technology, and much more.
"Gods & Kings is one of the best expansions we've ever created, delivering countless hours of new gameplay experiences for Civ players around the world."
"Sid Meier's Civilization V: Gods & Kings continues the tradition of content-rich expansion packs for the Civilization series," said Sarah Anderson, senior vice president of marketing for 2K. "It is the ultimate Civilization V addition, giving fans and newcomers another reason to keep playing 'one more turn.'"
Developed by Firaxis Games, Sid Meier's Civilization V: Gods & Kings takes players through time as they engage in new quests and global competitions, interact with new types of city-states, and master exciting new systems for land and naval combat. Nine new civilizations, each ruled by a new leader; nine new wonders; three original scenarios; and dozens of new units, buildings, technologies and resources have also been added, offering even more ways for players to expand their empire on their quest to rule the world.
"We can't wait for fans to get started on their quest to achieve world domination in all-new ways with Civilization V: Gods & Kings," said Sid Meier, director of creative development for Firaxis Games. "Gods & Kings is one of the best expansions we've ever created, delivering countless hours of new gameplay experiences for Civ players around the world."
Key features include:
Expanded Epic Game: The core game experience has been greatly expanded with the addition of new technologies, 27 new units, 13 new buildings and nine new Wonders;
New Civilizations and Leaders: Gods & Kings features nine new civilizations, each with unique traits, units, buildings and leaders;
New Game Scenarios: Three new scenarios let gamers experience the medieval period, the fall of Rome, and embark on a new adventure in Empires of the Smoky Skies, a Victorian steampunk scenario;
The Return of Religion: A first for Civilization V, players seek out Faith, choosing a Pantheon of the Gods and creating Great Prophets to found and spread their customized religion across the world;
World Domination: The fight for world domination is more dynamic than ever. Gods & Kings features a reworked combat system and AI that places more emphasis on a balanced army composition. Additionally, the navy is now split into two different ship types, melee and ranged, making coastal cities vulnerable to a surprise naval attack;
Enhanced Diplomacy and Espionage: Establish embassies at foreign courts for closer ties or clandestine operations. As the religions of the world start settling in and the world moves into the Renaissance, spies can be unlocked to establish surveillance of foreign cities, steal advanced technologies from your strongest competitors, or garner influence with City-States through election rigging, or even a coup;
City-States: Two new city-state types have been added, Mercantile and Religious, adding new gameplay to a greatly expanded quest system to further the narrative of the game and making diplomatic victories more challenging.
Sid Meier's Civilization V: Gods & Kings is rated E10+ (Everyone 10 and older) by the ESRB and is available now in stores for PC and for download on PC and Mac for $29.99. For the latest news, information, downloads and a detailed look at each of the civilizations in Gods & Kings, please visit www.civilization.com.


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Saturday 11 April 2009
Malazan at 10: An old interview with Steven Erikson
5 comments:
- Gabriele Campbell said...
I can't help but it sounds like the author of that article has a few sour grapes to eat and never read a Fantasy book before, or he would not stumble over words like merlon and vambrace. ;)
- 11 April 2009 at 22:57:00 GMT
- Unknown said...
Agreed. The interviewer sounds like a dick.
- 11 April 2009 at 23:35:00 GMT
I think the interviewer is writing for people who don't know what a merlon or a vambrace are. This was a guardian piece, not some post on SFFWorld.
- 12 April 2009 at 08:07:00 GMT
- Unknown said...
Obviously that is case, Anon. But he could have explained those things (although, it wasn't really necessary for the reader to know about them given the article was about money) in a matter of fact manner. Instead he comes off like he is trying to distance himself from those nerdy fantasy guys.
"Oh. Vambraces...Get a load of this geek." *rolls eyes* - 13 April 2009 at 00:53:00 GMT
- Gabriele Campbell said...
I learned those words when I read Ivanhoe, and that one's not shelved among Fantasy. :)
Btw, it really annoyed my English teacher because I used words he didn't know. - 13 April 2009 at 13:17:00 GMT

subset: commoncrawl


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John Alan Rose (*1972)
Born in Wheeling, West Virginia (USA), John Alan Rose has been performing as pianist and composer since the age of 14. Acclaimed European pianist Andreas Haefliger once played from John's sketchbook and was so taken with his music that he predicted his future as a composer/performer. In November of 2015, John performed his piano concerto with the Moravian Philharmonic in Olomouc, Czech, followed by a collaboration with the same orchestra and the talents of cellist JungWon Choi, violinist Simeon Simeonov, and soprano Sing Rose, narrator Tyler Bunch, and conductor Miran Vaupotic on a major recording project of his four concerti (cello, piano, violin and voice), for release with the Navona Label. His music has also been performed by the Dubrovnik Philharmonic Orchestra, the St. Petersburg State Symphony Orchestra (Russia), and the Lugansk Philharmonic (Ukraine). Guitarist Diego Campagna selected John's solo guitar piece The Children Are Playing for inclusion on his new guitar cd, featuring the piece as well on his American tour.
In addition to large scale orchestral works, John has also composed a full length opera, major choral work, and many pieces for chamber ensemble and piano solo. At the age of eighteen he played the complete Chopin Etudes in concerts throughout Ohio and West Virginia. He has studied piano at Duquesne University, Indiana University and Baldwin-Wallace University; teachers include David Allen Wehr, Robert Mayerovitch, Dina Khudaiberdieva, Karen Shaw, and Frederic Chiu.
John resides with his family in Ohio and is a member of ASCAP.
Published Works:
Rose, John Alan - Joan of Arc for Violin and Piano (2015) [XXS 119]
Rose, John Alan - Sleepy Hollow Suite for Piano (2007) [XXS 96]
Rose, John Alan - Sleepy Hollow Suite for Violin and Viola (2007) [XXS 82]


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The Frappuccino: By the Numbers
Year that Coffee Connection marketing director Andrew Frank creates the Frappuccino recipe and name.
Number of Frappuccino flavors currently offered by Starbucks.
$23 million
Amount Starbucks pays in 1994 for the Coffee Connection chain and the rights to the Frappuccino name.
$52 million
Sales of the Starbucks Frappucino in 1996.
$2 billion
Sales of the Starbucks Frappuccino in 2011, 20 percent of the company's total coffee sales.
Number of ingredients in the Coffee Connection's version of the Frappuccino: espresso, milk, and sugar.
Number of ingredients in Starbucks' pre-2011 version of the Frappuccino: skim milk, sugar, cream, dried glucose syrup, nonfat milk solids, fructose, natural and artificial flavors, salt, cocoa powder, stabilizers, and sodium caseinate.
Number of ingredients in Starbucks' post-2011 Frappuccino: sugar, water, flavoring, salt, xanthan gum, potassium sorbate, and citric acid.
Number of calories in a venti (20 ounce) "Double Chocolaty Chip Frappuccino Blended Crème."
Cost of a typical tall Frappuccino.
Read our feature story, "Back to the Grind," about George Howell's attempt to retake the coffee world nearly two decades after selling his iconic Coffee Connection chain to Starbucks.


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Long-time Valley hospital executive John Harrington Jr. begins service as CEO of John C. Lincoln Deer Valley Hospital Monday, May 14. Harrington started his career in health care administration 33 years ago as the assistant vice president of operations at the hospital's former parent facility, then known as Phoenix General.
Harrington comes to John C. Lincoln from Banner Del E. Webb Medical Center in Sun City, where he was CEO. His previous leadership experience includes serving as the CEO at Banner Heart Hospital, Paradise Valley Hospital and the Arizona Heart Hospital.
In March, Harrington was one of four hospital executives in the United States named to serve a three-year term on the Board of Governors of the 46,000-member American College of Healthcare Executives. He also spent 10 years on the board of directors of the Arizona Hospital and Healthcare Association, including service as chairman of the board.
"John brings a wealth of knowledge and experience – both locally and nationally – to Deer Valley. He is well known as a dynamic and compassionate leader," said Rhonda Forsyth, president and CEO of the John C. Lincoln Health Network. "I am confident that John is the right fit for our organization – our mission, culture and vision."
"I am really excited about this new opportunity. I live in Moon Valley so the two John C. Lincoln hospitals are my neighborhood hospitals," he said. "John C. Lincoln always has had a great reputation. I look forward to supporting an already strong culture and developing a fulltime senior team to continue to move us forward."
Harrington earned a BS in microbiology with a minor in business from the University of Pittsburgh. He earned a master's in public health with a specialty in hospital administration in 1980.


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The trial of Dmitry Pavlyuchenkov, a former police lieutenant colonel and a key suspect in the 2006 murder of prominent Russian journalist Anna Politkovskaya, started at Moscow City Court today under presiding Judge Aleksandr Zamashnyuk.
When Pavlyuchenkov was first charged, there was hope investigators were making real progress. However, Politkovskaya's family and colleagues say a deal between the suspect and investigators at the heart of the trial has not been fulfilled and should be invalidated. The judge today declined their request and declared all substantive proceedings in the trial secret, saying journalists will be allowed only at the reading of Pavlyuchenkov's verdict, scheduled for Friday. Such a quick, closed trial leaves little hope of full justice being achieved for the prominent Novaya Gazeta journalist.
Tuesday, on the eve of the trial, Politkovskaya's adult son, Ilya, and his legal representative Anna Stavitskaya, along with Novaya Gazeta Editor-in-Chief Dmitry Muratov and his deputy, Sergey Sokolov, held a press conference at the offices of the independent news agency Interfax in Moscow, where they called into question the deal Pavlyuchenkov had made with the official investigators. According to conditions of the deal, Pavlyuchenkov was obligated to fully confess his role in the murder and name its mastermind, Novaya Gazeta said. The journalist's family and colleagues, who have studied the materials of the official investigation, say Pavlyuchenkov did not fulfill those conditions.
"The period of our active cooperation with the official investigation has ended; the time for asking tough questions has come," Sokolov said.
Politkovskaya's colleagues at Novaya Gazeta, who have been carrying out their own journalistic investigation into her murder, believe that Pavlyuchenkov is the key organizer of the crime, directly receiving instructions from the mastermind, who is yet to be publicly named. However, the official charges against Pavlyuchenkov have been downgraded from being the main organizer to being a mere accomplice in the crime. Pavlyuchenkov has confessed to those charges.
"Without doubting Pavlyuchenkov's testimony about the participation of additional members of a criminal group in the murder–this is confirmed by evidence–we are convinced that Pavlyuchenkov, in his hopes to avoid a heavy verdict, has tried to play down his role in the crime," Politkovskaya's adult children, Ilya and Vera, said in a statement issued on the sixth anniversary of their mother's murder, on October 7. Pavlyuchenkov, the statement also said, has tried to "offer the investigation a politically motivated, unconfirmed by evidence, version of who the mastermind of the crime is."
Pavlyuchenkov has named the alleged masterminds of Politkovskaya's murder to be Russian exiled tycoon Boris Berezovsky, along with exiled Chechen separatist leader Akhmed Zakayev. However, it is well known that the first mention of Berezovsky came when President Vladimir Putin, shortly after Politkovskaya's murder, publicly accused him of masterminding the crime. Since then, both the Russian Prosecutor-General's Office and the Investigative Committee have been trying to prove Berezovsky's involvement in the slaying, according to news reports and sources close to the investigation. The legal representatives of Politkovskaya's adult children say they consider the Berezovsky-Zakayev version to be devoid of evidence.
"We are getting the impression that law enforcement is unwilling to get to the bottom of the crime chain, because, apparently, the mastermind is an influential person in the Russian power hierarchy," Sokolov, who also heads the newspaper's department of investigations, said.
At the time of the murder, Pavlyuchenkov was head of Fourth Division of the Surveillance Department at Moscow's Main Internal Affairs Directorate, the city's main police force, and in this capacity, he ordered surveillance of the journalist to ascertain her whereabouts and usual routes. The Fourth Division carries out surveillance and phone-tapping of suspected criminals. According to Russian law, such operations are to be carried out only after they are sanctioned by a court; the surveillance on Politkovskaya was not.
"It became clear that Pavlyuchenkov, with the participation of his subordinates, made illegal surveillance into a business," Sokolov told CPJ.
According to his testimony, Pavlyuchenkov received orders to carry out surveillance on Politkovskaya from an acquaintance, Chechen crime boss Lom-Ali Gaitukayev, whom Pavlyuchenkov allegedly feared. Such a version was confirmed by the head of Politkovskaya's murder investigation, Petros Garibyan. "Pavlyuchenkov of course knew that he was being set up by an established criminal," Garibyan told the business daily Kommersant in a November 9 interview. However, Garibyan said, Pavlyuchenkov feared disobeying Gaitukayev. Gaitukayev, who has been charged with organizing the murder, is serving a prison term in connection to another crime.
Politkovskaya's colleagues disagree with the official probe's conclusions on Pavlyuchenkov. They believe that the former police colonel is a key organizer of the murder, who arranged and carried out the surveillance of the journalist; found and solicited the participation of the three Chechen brothers, the Makhmudovs, (who are to be tried separately for their purported involvement in the killing; they deny the charges); and procured and handed the killers the murder weapon. Not only that, Politkovskaya's colleagues believe, but Pavlyuchenkov interacted directly with the mastermind of the murder, receiving both the order and payment for the crime, and is able to reveal the truth about who sent the killers to the journalist's doorstep.
According to the materials of the investigation, Politkovskaya was placed under surveillance in two periods–in the summer and in the fall of 2006. The first surveillance period involved a narrow circle of persons, who were paid a daily "wage" of US$150. This, however, proved ineffective, because Politkovskaya had traveled abroad.
The second period of surveillance started several weeks before the killing. Here is an excerpt from the official interrogation of one of Pavlyuchenkov's subordinates: "The surveillance on her [Politkovskaya] was being carried out by our division [the Fourth Division] in two shifts: the first one from 8 am to 2 p.m., the second one – from 2 p.m. to 9 p.m. Each shift included no less than two transportation units, and at least six operatives. Since the surveillance of the given subject [Politkovskaya] was carried out in two shifts, and by a considerable number of operatives, I concluded that we were working on an official assignment. …"
In addition, Stavitskaya, the family's lawyer, said at Tuesday's press conference that Pavlyuchenkov's subordinates carried out surveillance of Politkovskaya's suspected immediate killers (allegedly the Makhmudov brothers) until immediately before the murder "in order to help them carry out the killing." Stavitskaya based her conclusions on the materials of the investigation that she and her clients have studied.
Despite all this, no one other than Pavlyuchenkov from the Fourth Division of the Surveillance Department at Moscow's Main Internal Affairs Directorate has been indicted with involvement in the journalist's killing. They are considered "witnesses in the case." As for Pavlyuchenkov's bosses, those have not even received administrative punishment.
Could Pavlyuchenkov have organized such a massive surveillance operation without the knowledge of his bosses? "This is a question that arose while we were familiarizing ourselves with the materials of the official investigation," one of the Politkovskaya family lawyers told CPJ. "Yet, the investigative team never asked it of Pavlyuchenkov."
Investigators have not responded publicly to the allegations raised by Politkovskaya's family, their lawyers, and colleagues.
The prosecution has asked that Pavlyuchenkov serve 12 years in a general-regimen prison colony if found guilty. As a rule, defendants found guilty of a commissioned crime receive up to 18 years in prison in a maximum-security prison.
With Pavlyuchenkov's blitz trial being sealed to the public, the truth about the real masterminds of Politkovskaya's murder may be buried for good. The press is unable to monitor the trial and help expose any flaws in the proceedings. Such a process is opaque and bound to sabotage the pursuit of true justice for our colleague.
[Translated from Russian by Nina Ognianova]


text:
Ideal Industries Cat5e RJ45 110 Type 90 T568A/B Yellow Pack of 10Item: 98-ZK8C-90Y-IDX10
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. 100 MHz / 1Gb performance
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All jacks feature a robust internal printed circuit board design used to help reduce NEXT (near-end cross talk) and improve RF performance at higher frequencies. The IDC tower design and layout help to simplify and speed up the wiring and termination process. Tapered tower tops help to separate each pair into the individual IDC slot without the need to untwist each pair. This allows pairs to easily maintain the recommended maximum of 1/2 '' of untwisting per pair from the cable jacket.
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Bergdahl, Afghanistan, and the Darkening of the American Soul
Far removed from the din of professional Beltway hecklers, Bob Bergdahl, father of former Taliban prisoner Bowe Bergdahl, has been struggling for his son's release. The ordeal of the son, and the disciplined, contemplative activism of the father, projects the U.S. war in Afghanistan through a different lens.When Bowe Bergdahl was reported missing in Afghanistan on the morning of June 30, 2009, a crack formed in the U.S. narrative about the longest war in our nation's history. Bergdahl's release this week, as part of a prisoner-of-war swap with the Taliban, has provoked the partisan pundits to hurl invective at the American POW, his family, and at President Barack Obama. Far removed from the din of these professional Beltway hecklers, though, in Hailey, Idaho, Bob Bergdahl, the young prisoner's father, has been struggling for his son's release. The ordeal of the son, and the disciplined, contemplative activism of the father, projects the U.S. war in Afghanistan through a different lens.
We know little yet of what exactly led to Bowe Bergdahl's disappearance that night in Paktika province. Sean Smith, a filmmaker with The Guardian, met him the month before his disappearance. "Bowe was a softly spoken, intelligent and thoughtful guy," Smith wrote. Smith produced two remarkable videos, one with footage shot in Afghanistan, another in Idaho, showing Bob Bergdahl's personal efforts to not only free his son, but to understand the U.S. mission in Afghanistan. Bowe himself is not interviewed in Smith's films, but two fellow soldiers, in their tightly-knit group of five or six, were:
SOLDIER ONE: "These people just want to be left alone."
SOLDIER TWO: "They got dicked with from the Russians for 17 years and then now we're here."
SOLDIER ONE: "Same thing in Iraq when I was there. These people just want to be left alone. Have their crops, weddings, stuff like that, that's it, man."
Days later, Bergdahl disappeared. Smith told me, "They weren't criticizing the chain of command, but they were questioning the war and the concept of it … a number of American soldiers expressed queries and questions."
Back in Idaho, Smith trekked into a remote, snow-covered camp with Bowe's father. Bob Bergdahl had grown a long beard and was studying the Pashto language in order to connect with the people of Afghanistan. In the film, Bergdahl talks about his son: "He was not there for national security. He was not there because he lost a personal friend on 9/11. He was there because the way he was raised forced him to have compassion. I know that was Bowe's motivation, to help these people. That is how the war is shaped in the minds of a lot of Americans, is that we are there as some kind of Peace Corps with guns, and that is just an impossible mission."
Bob Bergdahl is next shown watching a video of Martin Luther King Jr. delivering his famous "Why I Am Opposed to the War in Vietnam" sermon in 1967. Bergdahl reflected: "How can we teach two generations at least of children in this country that we have zero tolerance for violence but we can occupy two countries in Asia for almost a decade. It is schizophrenic. … The purpose of war is to destroy things. You can't use it to govern."
The chorus of voices calling for Bowe Bergdahl to be court-martialed is receiving much attention. Media Matters, a nonprofit media watchdog group, has documented the Fox News Channel's unrelenting campaign against Bergdahl, and the demonization of his family. The New York Times challenged the claim, tirelessly repeated by CNN, MSNBC and others, that six to eight soldiers died while searching for Bowe Bergdahl in the weeks and months after he went missing.
Other, perhaps better informed people, who get too little space in the mainstream media, have more nuanced responses to the prisoner-of-war swap. Retired Air Force Col. Morris Davis was the chief military prosecutor at Guantanamo Bay until he resigned in 2007. He told me, "I just don't know how you end a war without talking to the other side." In response to the criticism that the five Guantanamo prisoners swapped for Bergdahl were high-level terrorists, Davis said, "[I] wasn't familiar with any of these names … we had more than 12 years. If we could have proven that they had done something wrong that we could prosecute them for, I'm confident we would have done it, and we didn't."
The late Rolling Stone journalist Michael Hastings reported on Bowe Bergdahl, quoting emails from Bowe to his parents that were very critical of the U.S. occupation. Bowe wrote, "I am sorry for everything here." At the end of Sean Smith's video shot in Idaho, we hear Bob Bergdahl quietly remark about the U.S. war in Afghanistan: "I think this is the darkening of the American soul. It is where the guilt comes from, because you are being told you are helping, but you know on the inside that you are not."
Denis Moynihan contributed research to this column.
Amy Goodman is the host of "Democracy Now!," a daily international TV/radio news hour airing on more than 1,200 stations in North America. She is the co-author of "The Silenced Majority," a New York Times best-seller.
© 2014 Amy Goodman
Distributed by King Features Syndicate
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Your tax-deductible contribution keeps us digging beneath the headlines to give you thought-provoking, investigative reporting and analysis that unearths what's really happening- without compromise.
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text:
American Atheists Continues Bangladesh Protests Despite Day of Mourning; Others Postpone
A number of major atheist organizations have been put in a tough spot over planned protests against Bangladesh, after the country suffered a national disaster on Wednesday that left hundreds of people dead.
American Atheists and secular groups from around the world had planned to protest on Thursday outside of Bengali embassies around the world over the arrest and imprisonment of several atheist bloggers. The South Asian country, which is heavily Muslim, has been cracking down on those criticizing the faith and the government, accusing them of blasphemy and insulting Islam.
The country declared a national day of mourning on Thursday, however, after a massive building collapse in Bangladesh that left over 230 dead and 1,000 injured, with workers still digging out survivors from the incident. As a consequence, a number of planned rallies in support of the atheist bloggers have now been pushed back, but others have continued.
America's most prominent secular group, American Atheists, insisted that the tragedy should not hold back efforts to raise awareness for the persecuted nonbelievers currently in jail and in danger.
"My decision to continue ... is based on the fact that I feel this is an urgent problem," AA President David Silverman said. "People are in jail for doing nothing but self expression, and that is wholly immoral. This protest is weeks in the making, international in scope, and we aren't canceling it because of an impromptu day of mourning imposed by the very people imprisoning atheists like us."
Protests went on in U.S. cities like Washington, D.C., New York and Columbia, Mo., but scheduled rallies in London, Ottawa, Calgary, Toronto and Dhaka were postponed until May 2.
While AA and the Secular Coalition continued leading the protests, other atheist groups like the Center for Inquiry, CFI-Canada, and the British Humanist Association decided that it would be best to hold off on them for now.
"All sides had good reasons for the decisions they made, and it was not an easy call for anyone," CFI explained in a statement on Thursday.
"A primary factor in the decision to postpone came down to the fact that at the embassies and consulates at which we'd be protesting, there might very well be friends and relatives of those killed or injured in the collapse, all trying to get information, send messages, and the like. With their feelings in mind, and the fact that the officials' attentions would be so firmly on their own country's disaster, we thought it best to move the protest later to when it would have more of its own space."
The disaster on Wednesday occurred after 2,000 workers failed to evacuate an unstable eight-story building, despite earlier warnings. The Freethought Blog argued that much like their inability to protect atheists' rights in Bangladesh, government officials had failed to protect the people from the disaster.
"In both these cases, the Government has failed to defend fundamental rights. Unfortunately, it is too late for the many garment factory workers. But there is still time to save Bangladesh's bloggers. The Government must act before it is too late," the blog states. "Whilst we remember the dead, we must also remember those who are fighting to live."


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I am very excited as I have figured out how to create different categories in my photo album. It took my forever to figure out that if I just simply looked to the right of the Photo Album page there was a spot where I can easily create a new category. Sigh..... Anyway, I am going to start posting more pictures of my "baubles" as well as some other "crafty choas". These earrings are called "Cotton Candy & Cavier". Is that how you spell cavier? It's not like I eat the stuff; but I thought it kind of fit this pair.
I want to thank everyone who has stopped by from Studio Friday. And, thank you, to those of you who have left comments. Please feel free to leave comments anytime! It's like a little gift that I get to open when I see there is a new comment! Well, back to the upload drawing board.


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How much money do Grubhub drivers earn in St. Louis? Grubhub Pay St. Louis 2020
Want to know how much Oakland Grubhub drivers make in 2020? We look into salary estimates for Grubhub drivers in St. Louis, Missouri in our post below.
How much do Grubhub Drivers Earn in St. Louis?
Grubhub drivers in St. Louis earn approximately $28,080 per year.
The average Grubhub driver earns about $9.00 per trip and makes about 2 trips per hour ($18.00).
Assuming a typical Grubhub courier works 30 hours per week, their weekly income intake equates to $540.00 – amounting to a yearly total of $28,080.00.
Is it worth becoming a Grubhub driver?
There are a number of benefits to becoming a Grubhub driver, including:
Flexible Hours – drivers can work when they want, scheduling their day as they see fit. The company offers drivers a number of wage guarantees & earnings floors, including a $10 per-hour minimum if a driver accepts over 75% of incoming restaurant orders.
Grubhub also allows its drivers to collect tips.
Interested in becoming a Grubhub driver? You can get more information or sign-up here.


text: Start the Day Right – Zoom Learning with Rabbi Oser 15 Apr 2022 8:00 AM - 8:30 AM Category(ies) Adult-Ed Community All Welcome Every Weekday 8:00-8:30am Maharal Netiv HaTeshuva No books or prior knowledge required. Open to all genders. Please click here to join. Meeting ID: 899 8475 5373 Password: Learning admin@2022-05-05T19:53:19+08:00 Share This Post Facebook


text:
As service providers and enterprises scale their wireless access networks to enable powerful new applications and services many existing backhaul solutions are rapidly becoming a major bottleneck.
Products DragonWave packet microwave and packet convergence backhaul solutions hold the key to unleashing true broadband with the capacity, flexibility and cost efficiency needed for a smooth evolution to high capacity packet networks.
New high capacity IP applications are driving existing networks to capacity.
Yet, wiring buildings or base stations to a fiber backbone is slow and expensive. To meet the growing need for more services and capacity, today's backhaul networks need to be reliable, scalable, IP optimized with minimal life cycle costs.


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The Nesivos Shalom teaches that in Mitzrayim, Hashem purposefully waited through our generations of slavery for us to finally arrive at our lowest possible spiritual and physical condition before referring to us as, "My firstborn son." Why? He waited in order to prove to us for all time that He does not love us based on our behavior or our status; rather so we would know that we are inherently His beloved children. Therefore, His love for us is unconditional and indestructible, regardless of our debasement or situation.
* * *
Your son, whom you so proudly carried to his bris, is always your son.
Your daughter, light of your life from the moment you first held her, is always your daughter.
A parent's love for his or her child must be unqualified, as God's is for His people. And yet… too often we are so brutally quick to judge our own children; and too often through the eyes of others, not even our own!
* * *
Imagine for a moment, cherubim. Imagine them with child-like countenances. Where might you find such airy, holy creatures? In the holiest city in the world! In Jerusalem herself. And not just in the holiest city but in the holiest place in the holiest of cities, upon the Temple Mount, the kodesh kodashim, the Holy of Holies. The very ground there vibrates with the awesomeness of its holiness. For it is at this spot that God, the Master of the Universe, speaks to Moshe from above the Aron. His voice emanates from between the two cherubim, from between the countenances of babes. Not from between the countenance of two elders, or sages or tzadikim. But two babes. Why? To teach us that to hear and receive God's awesome messages we must maintain a pure, child-like innocence and enthusiasm, one free of preconceived notions and prejudices. We must embrace a child's delight in learning and experience.
But do we? Sadly, no. The years make us jaded. "What is it that I can learn? I have experienced life!" We know the "slings and arrows" of our years, and they have wounded us, made us cautious, skeptical and hurtful. But such an attitude is anathema to all that is spiritual and pure. Doesn't Hosea teach us that God loves klal Yisrael simply because we are loveable like a young child? "For Israel is a young lad and I love him." [Hosea 11:1]
How hard it is for us – as the years turn our supple minds and bodies brittle – to maintain that innocence and delight! The challenge is even greater for those who are parents, for they experience the most searing of challenges and hurts from the very ones dearest to them – their children. Flesh of our flesh, blood of our blood! How they can turn us inside out! Our very own children who "have turned their backs on us and all that is sacred and precious to us."
We see it too often. We hear of it constantly. We shed such tears as we witness it or experience it! We cry and suffer with our friends. Relationships between husband and wife suffer. Families ache. Why? Because children "fall away." They become lost children. Such good children! From such good frum, heimishe, yeshivishe, chasidishe, chardei homes. How did they become "at risk"? How did they become OTD (off the derech)? How did these children, raised in such loving, observant homes, come to turn their backs on a Torah-centered life?
We will return to the how, but for now we must examine how we react when our children become angry, rebellious, and critical. How do we respond when our children "throw off" the garb of our community and wear torn jeans, or clothing that is not anything but true to tzniut? Or they pierce their ears or noses! We yell. We demand. We punish. We even banish, removing the "culprit" from our homes – from their homes – and, in the process, create a cycle of ever greater rejection, greater distance, greater anger.
So many good, decent, observant parents emotionally torn to shreds as their dear children become strangers before their very eyes! They banish these "strangers" for a thousand understandable reasons – because their own hearts ache, to protect their other children, because they worry what others might think… And why wouldn't they? How can observant parents come to terms with a child of their own rejecting Torah, Shabbos, kashrut and all that is good and sacred.
They ask themselves, they ask God, "Didn't we give our child the best of everything spiritually, financially, socially? How can you do this to us?" Their answer is deep silence.
What can the answer be when such a situation continues to spiral from bad to worse? The child rebels. The parent punishes, driving the child to greater rebellion which leads to greater punishment which inevitably leads to…
Is there another, better way?
* * *
The Talmud in Yoma [54a] quotes Rav Katina depicting the scene when the Jews came to Jerusalem for the three regalim, "… the Kohanim would pull back the curtain in the Temple and show them the Cherubim hugging and embracing one another [one had masculine features, the other, feminine]. The priests would then say, 'See how beloved you are before the Almighty, like the love of the male and female.'"
But when Churban and destruction of the Temple came, Reish Lakish continues in the Talmud Yoma [54b] and the enemies invaded and entered the Holy of Holies, behold, they saw the cherubim embracing like man and wife, and they brought out the cherubim out to the street and mocked the Jews, debasing them and ridiculing them for their perceived impropriety.
The question arises, How could it be that the cherubim remain so obviously loving in the midst of such unspeakable destruction and tragedy? Were we not taught that "when Yisroel did the will of God, the cherubim faced one another, but when they didn't the cherubim faced the wall."
Talmud Yoma [54b] speaks of Churban and yet the cherubim faced one another. How could this be? The answer is that God loves His children even in the midst of Churban, even in the midst of unbearable destruction. The Nesivos Shalom explains that the very thing our oppressors perceived as unseemly is actually the ultimate demonstration of God's love for the Jewish people. God wanted to show that He loves, cherishes and cares for His children, the Jewish people, forever. This is true even when they are at their lowest. And it is this knowledge, that God will never forsake us, that gives us the strength to endure all the trials and tribulations of what felt to be an endless exile.
God has unconditional love for His kinderlach.
So too, the Zohar relates that when the Jewish people were exiled from their land, God said to the entire Heavenly host, "What are you doing here? My children are going into exile and you are remaining in the Heavens? All of you, get up and descend to Bavel, and I will descend with you." Chazal declare, Wherever Yisroel is exiled, the Shechina goes with them. God does not abandon His children to go into exile unaccompanied. God goes with us.
In our pain and darkness, God is with us. He needs to be with us until that day when He will accompany us to our return. But, until that day when we are fully ready to be redeemed, He remains with us, painful as that may be for Him to endure. And of course it is painful. We are, after all, His children. No matter how lost we are, He will not turn away from us.
The Navi says: Shuvu banim shovavim –"Return you wayward children." He does not say, "Return you wayward ones. But wayward children. God is saying to us, "You are always MY children. No matter how wayward, no matter how low you sink. You are mine."
It is here that we fully understand the meaning of the loving embrace of the cherubim that so befuddled our enemies. Even they know that no matter what, God loves us, His people, forever.
The Talmud cites the verse that speaks of God as the One, "Who dwells among them even in their impurity." Rav Tzadok of Lublin explains that we are still called "the portion of Hashem" even if we are mired in shmutz and defilement. Every Jew is, by nature, always and forever connected to Hashem. This is the Divine Presence that never leaves his innermost self.
* * *
Is there another, better way for the parent who feels betrayed, hurt and frustrated by the behavior of his or her OTD child? Yes! And that way is the one that God has shown us. It is love and acceptance. Even as a child descends to the most shameful muck, you must love him, just as God loves us, no matter how far we fall.
God shows absolute and unconditional love and acceptance, even in the midst of our greatest defilement, a defilement that led to Churban and destruction. Didn't God descend to the lowest level of muck, the 49th level, to salvage us from Mitzrayim? Where would we be now if God had simply abandoned us because He didn't want to be seen in such muck?
If God can do it, shouldn't we? Has any OTD child done worse than our forefathers? Has their shumtz surpassed the impurity of past generations? If God accompanied His children in the depths of their despair during the generations of galus shouldn't we walk that extra mile for the sake of our children?
But how? How to take that first step?
The first step is so simple… and so hard. It requires us to ask, Why? Why has our child fallen? The reason the question is so hard is that we have to be fully prepared to hear the answer. And there is an answer to the question. Do not think for a moment that one day a child wakes up and thinks, "Shabbos is no longer beautiful!" Your wonderful child does not simple conclude, "Hey, treif is better than kosher!"
Something happened to push him or her off the derech.
And do not be satisfied with mumbled generalities or shrugs of the shoulder. There is a reason… find it! It requires a trauma to transform a good, caring child filled with yiddishkeit into a stranger wandering the streets.
This transformation was not a choice! It was thrust upon the child. When your child rebels in this way, it is because their neshama is in pain. What might the trauma be? Too often, it is a betrayal or abuse on the part of a trusted and respected adult.
Impossible, you think? If you believe it is so impossible, that such abuse could never happen "in my community" seek out the wisdom of Rabbi Moshe Bak (Innocent Heart at 888 506-7162) or Mrs. Ruchama Clapman (Mask at 718 758-0400) or reach out to Avi Fishoff (email@example.com) and learn not only that such abuse is possible but, in many cases, probable. And learn from them that there is a way to get your child back.
Your child has not turned away from you and Torah "just because." There is a reason for his or her pain. Find out what it is so that healing can begin. Do not push your child away. That serves only to deepen his or her pain.
Our OTD children need our love and understanding, not our retribution.
Think! If your child suffered, God forbid, from cancer, would you allow your own shame or frustration to keep you from doing everything in your power to help your child? Of course not. Do not allow shame or frustration to keep you from helping your OTD child!
The road back is paved with love, understanding, hugs and honest communication. The Krule Rebbe explains, "If someone slips on an icy road and breaks a leg, he needs months of physical therapy until he can walk again… Why is this boy different? He has been broken, shattered. It will take months and months, often even longer, until he can walk on his own two feet again."
We cannot go on sad but accepting as we lose our smartest, sweetest children, children from beautiful homes filled with warmth and yiddishkeit. It is too easy to simply "blame" the OTD child. Not only is it too easy, it is wrong!
We need to have the courage to ask why and confront the ugly truth of the answer. No doubt it is shocking, painful, frightening. It is a shreck. But until we do this, until we diagnose the problem, there can be no healing. Our experts tell us in no uncertain terms that fully 80% of all OTD children have experienced some form of abuse. If there should be a focus of our hurt, anger and retribution, it is the reality of this statistic. The shonda is that such a thing happens in our community, not that the children affected by it react with their own anger, pain and shame. And rebellion.
Let us reject our own shame and face this terrible reality, for our sakes and the sakes of our children. Only then, can we accompany our dear children back to where they belong, with us in our homes, living a Torah life.
Have no doubt, when you determine that you will face the truth with your child, they will know it. As Chani Juravel wrote in Binah magazine, describing such a parent who finally "saw the world through her child's eyes" …sometime later, she found herself straightening and gently knocking on the door while mouthing Tuly's name. And then, for the first time in what felt many years, she sat on her son's bed and reached for his hand. Still sleepy and dazed, he let her take it. Malky licked her lips and began speaking softly.
'Tuly, I want to ask your forgiveness.'
Her son looked confounded.
'I realize that for the past few years, I've focused most on how much I've been hurting. I've been so angry at you. Tuly, I was focused on how your behavior destroyed our image, how much pain we have suffered. So I'm sorry, Tuly. I'm sorry that with all that being my focus, I wasn't focused on what I should have been thinking and feeling most. I should have been thinking about the pain your neshamah is in, at how hard this must be for you. I shouldn't have made it all about me.'
That afternoon was a turning point for Malky. And it was a turning point for Tuly, too. It was the first day in three years that he put on tefillin.'
As God's presence comforted the Children of Israel throughout the darkness of our exile, so too will your presence comfort your child.
What to do if your child "rebels"? What to do if your child becomes an OTD child? Love him. Comfort her. And if that does not seem to work? Love him more. Comfort her more. Find out what happened.
The words of this author reflect his/her own opinions and do not necessarily represent the official position of the Orthodox Union.


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Posted by Editoress on 01/25/10
Day 3 Report
The Canadian team competing at the fourth and final World Cup in Beijing, China finished on the podium in their final event of the competition, but it was the sprinters who got things started.
Joseph Veloce (ON) and Stephane Cossette (QUE) began the day with the flying 200 meter race in a bid to qualify for the sprint competition. Both riders are new to the World Cup scene and were excited to be racing on the smooth Olympic track; however, they felt they could have ridden better, improved their approach, and gone faster. They finished in 24th and 27th position with times of 10.674 and 10.698 respectively. The fastest time posted was a 10.183. Both riders will be returning to Los Angeles in February to prepare for Worlds with teammate Travis Smith for the Team Sprint.
Monique Sullivan (AB) started strong in the first round of the Keirin, sitting in third place behind the bike. She was aggressive and moved to the front with two laps to go with a strong acceleration and held on until half a lap to go, when the group came around and she finished sixth in the heat moving on to the repechage. She made winning the repechage look easy and moved on to the semifinal where she was overpowered and finished tenth. "I didnt always have the legs to pull off my moves, I was racing smart and always putting myself in a good position. There was a strong field at this World Cup and it was great practice for the World Championships."
The final event for the Canadians was the women's team pursuit, with Canada fielding the same team who won gold at the previous World Cup. Tara Whitten, Laura Brown, and Steph Roorda, all from Alberta, had high expectations and felt strong and ready going in to the qualifier. They posted the third fastest time with some mistakes along the way, and then in the bronze medal final they rode like a smooth unit to take off more than three seconds from their first ride, winning the bronze medal while setting a new Canadian Record of 3:26.723.
The Canadian team finished the fourth World Cup with two gold medals and two bronze medals and were ranked seventh overall at this competition. The team focus will now be on preparing for the World Championships in Copenhagen, Denmark from March 24-28.
Event Wrap Up
The Canadian Track Cycling Team is returning home from China and the final World Cup of the season with two gold and two bronze medals. Tara Whitten, of Edmonton, posted the third fastest time in the individual pursuit qualifying. Not happy with her performance she came back fighting in the bronze medal match and took off more than a second from her first ride to win her match in a time of 3:40.365.
Whitten was back in the start gate a few days later with teammates Laura Brown, and Steph Roorda, both from Calgary, for the women's team pursuit. The same team had won gold at the previous World Cup and had high expectations this time around in Beijing. They felt strong and ready going in to the qualifier and posted the third fastest time with some mistakes along the way. In the bronze medal final they rode like a smooth unit to take off more than three seconds from their first ride and won the bronze medal while setting a new Canadian Record of 3:26.723.
Zach Bell, of Watson Lake, Yukon, finished fourth at the previous World Cup in Cali, Colombia,in the points race and was aiming for the highest step on the podium in Beijing. He won points in three of the sprints, and gained points for lapping the field in the first half of the race. With about 25 laps to go he seized an opportunity to lap the field again and won the race one lap ahead of everyone else.
Bell stood on top of the podium for the second time in two days 24 hours later after the Scratch Race. He rode an aggressive race and felt like ""I was a hostage in a boy scout tent my legs where tied up so bad!" Having only raced in one international scratch race this year, he was sitting 135th in the world ranking and knew he would have to place in the top four in order to qualify for the World Championships at the end of March. He rode a tactically strong race, and powered to the front when needed to rev it up and cross the finish line first.
Head Coach Richard Wooles is impressed with what we are seeing from our team. "We had some great results and are showing progression heading towards the 2012 and 2016 Olympic Games. Our medals, personal bests, and Canadian Records are a direct result of the great work that has and is being done on all fronts, from riders, support staff and everyone involved with track cycling in Canada. Thank you all for being involved and helping our riders so far with what is building for the years ahead in Canadian track cycling. We are stretching our resources as far as we can to best prepare our athletes, but are always on the lookout for more financial and material support."
The team focus will now be on preparing for the World Championships in Copenhagen, Denmark from March 24-28.
Canadian Results in Beijing:
Men's Sprint: Joseph Veloce 25th in 10.674; Stephane Cossette 27th in 10.698
Men's Keirin: Travis Smith 21st
Men's Team Sprint: Travis Smith, Joseph Veloce and Stephane Cossette 9th in 45.652
Men's Kilo: Allan Leparskas 1:06.981 (personal best by 1.5 sec)
Men's Points Race: Zach Bell Gold Medal
Men's Scratch Race: Zach Bell Gold Medal
Women's Sprint: Monique Sullivan 18th
Women's Keirin: Monique Sullivan 10th
Women's 500: Monique Sullivan 14th in 36.111
Women's Scratch Race: Stephanie Roorda 13th; Laura Brown 16th in Qualifying heats
Women's Individual Pursuit: Tara Whitten Bronze Medal in 3:40.365
Women's Points Race: Tara Whitten 8th, Stephanie Roorda 18th
Women's Team Pursuit: Tara Whitten, Laura Brown, Stephanie Roorda - Bronze Medal and Canadian Record of 3:26.723
Photo galleries
Return to Cycling 4 Women homepage | Return to Canadian Cyclist homepage | Back to Top |


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It may not surprise anyone to read that Web juggernaut Google is the No. 1 seller of online advertising by orders of magnitude over its competitors. Thanks to research firm eMarketer, however, we now have a global leaderboard that puts it into perspective.
The new data also shows how relative newcomers in advertising such as Internet radio service Pandora and microblogging site Twitter are gaining momentum on mobile devices, while Amazon also is making waves in a market that's far from its ecommerce roots.
Overall, this year Google is expected to capture 33.2% of the world's $117 billion in digital ad spending, up from 31.5% in 2012, after payouts to its AdSense partner websites and to companies that post videos on Google's YouTube site.
Facebook is expected to have 5% of the market, up from 4.1% last year. At No. 3, Internet pioneer Yahoo will continue to lag and is expected to have 3.1%, down from 3.4%, while No. 4 Microsoft will rise to 1.8% in 2013 from 1.6% last year.
Microsoft declined to comment. Google, Yahoo and Facebook didn't respond to a request for comment.
In mobile ads, Google is running away with the show. This year it is expected to grab 56% of the $16 billion mobile-advertising market, up from 52.4% in 2012. Facebook will grab 12.9% of the market this year, up from 5.4% last year, eMarketer estimated, which is impressive considering how the company didn't generate mobile revenue two years ago.
Yahoo and Microsoft are nowhere near the front of the pack in mobile. Instead, Pandora took the No. 3 spot, with 0 million in mobile-ad revenue, or 2.5%. Pandora was followed by Twitter at No. 4, with 0 million in expected mobile-ad revenue this year, or 2% market share.
Twitter declined to comment. Pandora didn't respond to a request for comment.
Returning to the overall global advertising market, IAC, which owns a host of websites and is one of Google's the biggest AdSense partners, checks in at No. 5, with 1.5% of the market in 2013, up from 1.4% last year.
Like Yahoo, veteran Internet company AOL also will see its share drop to 0.95% of the global market, down from 1.02%, eMarketer said.
Amazon, meanwhile, is quietly making a name for itself in advertising sales, thanks to its leveraging of rich shopping data from millions of customers. The ecommerce king will be the No. 7 biggest seller of online ads this year, with $840 million in net revenue, up from $610 million last year, eMarketer said. That's good enough for a 0.7% market share.


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Branding is practically inescapable in today's culture. Everyone has an idea of what a brand is in our marketing-savvy climate, and the words "branding" and "brand" have become a familiar part of most adults' vernacular. But the reality is most don't have a grasp of what these concepts truly mean or how they are being influenced by them on a daily basis.
A successful brand is effortless in communicating its message, subtle and often indescribable. Most think that a brand is a logo, ad, great tagline or a combination of these. Although it is true that these are all parts of a brand campaign, the concept of branding as a whole is bigger, broader and much less tangible. This idea is similar to the theory of gestalt in art: the whole is bigger than the sum of the parts. Any singular part of a brand campaign may be great on its own—but when combined with a solid, consistent brand strategy executed across all touch points, something much bigger and more magical happens.
The best way to really grasp this abstract concept is not to think of a brand as a "thing" but as the living, breathing organism that it is. To be successful, a brand should always be changing, evolving and growing—much like a person. In fact, branding experts often think of a brand as a person when conceptualizing about that brand. What is her personality? In what voice and tone does she speak? What values are important to her? What makes her unique? And, most importantly, do you trust her?
Ultimately, branding is simply the public's perception of a product, service, company or even an individual. It is about an emotional connection and a consistent relationship. The best brands stand for something—a big idea, a strategic position and a set of values. They are an authentic expression of the product or service behind it. As marketers, you help your clients create the most targeted expression of the brand possible, but when all is said and done, the brand expression, or the visual and literal messages the company is putting out into the marketplace, has to be completely true to the product itself. Otherwise, the audience will discover the brand communication is not accurate, and their trust and confidence in the product will falter.
One of the best examples of a successful brand today is Apple. The brand starts with the product, a consistently beautiful and smart industrial design that is executed with top quality and attention to detail. The user interfaces of the operating systems and programs are simple and accessible, and the customer service experience is effective and approachable. So, the words that one could use to describe the product may be "smart, sophisticated, authentic, friendly." If you step back and analyze the brand expression, it is easy to understand why Apple is considered one of the top brands today. Every piece the consumer sees or interacts with, from the packaging to the retail environment, communicates the same consistent message. The packaging is artfully implemented with clever structures and high quality construction, the Web site is clean and simple to navigate, and the advertising is authentic and clever—all tying back directly to the concepts behind the product itself. Customers trust the brand, and are proud to be associated with it because their experience meets their expectations, which makes Apple a great example of a consumer lifestyle brand.
Creating a Lifestyle Brand
A lifestyle brand embodies the values of its target group. It speaks to the identity of its customers in a targeted, authentic way. A lifestyle brand is especially powerful because it allows individuals to publicly identify themselves with the brand; they are proud of the brand because it is a direct expression of their own values.
The key to successful lifestyle branding is creating an emotional connection to the market. Communicating product benefits and quality is not enough—there must be a bigger idea and an artistic expression to create the indescribable emotional connection that makes a person loyal to a brand. Although this is a somewhat ethereal notion, there are ways you can approach this as marketers from a very logical and quantitative process.
1. Research
Before any brand building can begin, the most important, and often overlooked, phase is research. It is critical to analyze what your competition is doing and saying to define and maintain your competitive edge. On the consumer side, it is important to know your customers from a marketing point of view, and it is absolutely critical to understand them from a product development point of view. If you don't have a thorough comprehension of your consumers, how is it possible to create products or services for them—let alone try to connect to them on an emotional level? The marketplace is flooded with so much competition in every category, companies must not only evolve their brands but they must also keep their product fresh. A lack of commitment to either product or brand evolution can make a brand become stale—fast.
2. Strategy
Once research is conducted and analyzed, it is essential to create a solid brand positioning strategy and define the core values and meaning of the brand. Meaning is born through developing a comprehensive understanding of a brand in order to inspire the creative process. Without meaning, there is no glue to hold the elements together. Brand strategy defines what positioning a brand will take in the marketplace before the brand identity can be developed. If the strategy is well-informed and targeted, a brand's core values should naturally align with the values of the target market, creating the foundation of a successful consumer lifestyle brand.
3. Identity
Brand identity is the visual and verbal communication of a brand. It must be an authentic expression of a company's vision, goals, values, voice and personality—and must be appropriate to its target market and business sector. Identity is tangible and appeals to the senses, and should stand out in the densely crowded marketplace. It supports, expresses, communicates, synthesizes and visualizes the brand. Brand identity usually begins with a logo or brand mark, but also includes supporting elements such as color palettes and copy tone. When done well, brand identity should constantly remind the customer of the meaning of the brand.
4. Execution
Branding is a truly holistic process. A successful campaign is consistent through all brand touch points—whether a customer is using a product, talking to a service representative or making a purchase on a Web site. Brand communication on both visual and verbal levels must feel familiar to have the desired effect. Packaging, copywriting, printed collateral, Web sites, environment and photography style must have a consistent voice and tone for a brand campaign to work in harmony. It is critical that once brand identity is established, it is executed across all communications—both internally and externally. One weak link can have a huge impact on consumer confidence.
Branding Pitfalls
Establishing a new brand or re-branding an existing company should be an energizing and positive experience. But just like remodeling a house, there are always hiccups that can happen along the way and maintenance will be ongoing. Beware of the following pitfalls:
1. Starting without a plan.
Marketing and brand strategies need to be mapped out before work begins. Otherwise, it can be costly—both with time and money—as it is easy to get off track. Strategy is like a blueprint for your brand campaign—without it, there is no solid foundation for the brand-building process.
2. Believing one great piece will do the job.
A logo, Web site, brochure or package design alone is not enough to communicate a solid and dependable brand identity. The key to consumer confidence with your brand is consistency—which means it must be communicated across all touch points to be successful. There is never a quick fix.
3. Too many cooks in the kitchen.
It is essential that there is a designated team within a company assigned to lead a branding campaign. Since branding is highly creative and sometimes subjective, it is easy to fall into the trap of "design by committee," especially within larger corporations where too many decision-makers add personal opinions into the mix.
Personal opinion, to a degree, is important because company leaders must feel good about how they are communicating to their audience, but it is critical to remember that good branding is targeted to a specific market that may or may not align with the sensibilities of the individual expressing the opinion. It can be hard for decision-makers to separate their personal feelings to make objective decisions, and the more people involved the more confusing this process can become. The result is often a watered-down, "vanilla" brand that is trying to please so many people that it ends up not making a strong statement of any kind.
4. Mix n' match agencies.
Although it may seem more economical to hire different agencies or specialists for different pieces of a brand campaign, it can actually end up being more costly. There is always a learning curve when taking on a new creative project of any kind, and each company will, and should, charge you for the time it takes to immerse itself in your project. Not to mention, results of working with too many agencies are often inconsistent. Different creative firms will often have their own unique spin or vision for a brand—even if working from a pre-determined strategy and brand guideline. Since there are often no black-and-white or right-or-wrong solutions in brand execution, this can lead to a lot of gray areas for a company to sort out—which translates to more dollars that need to be spent to fix the problem.
5. Creating a brand and then not touching it again.
Like any other living thing, brands must be fed in order to grow. Although the most effective branding campaigns are built around a "big idea," the meaning of the brand must be clearly explained, communicated and nurtured. Meaning can become amplified over time as the company and culture grow stronger, and meaning can be redefined by customer perceptions based on point of view and experience. It is critical to audit your brand and your market and adjust strategy accordingly—both in product development and marketing.


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From Dada to Surrealism
Jewish Avant-Garde Artists from Romania, 1910-1938
Jewish Avant-Garde Artists from Romania, 1910-1938
In the early decades of the twentieth century, the art world was taken by storm by the fearless experimentalism of several Jewish artists from Romania: Tristan Tzara (1895-1962), Victor Brauner (1903-1966), Marcel Janco (1895-1984), and M. H. Maxy (1895-1971). They and the older Romanian artist Arthur Segal (1875-1944) were present at the birth of an influential avant-garde movement. The younger artists Jules Perahim (1914-2008) and Paul Păun (1915-1994), inspired by their predecessors, were at the forefront of Surrealism.
Dadaist, Surrealist, abstract, and expressionistic works, personal variations on Constructivism – nothing went too far for them.
This virtual exhibition unveils some of the works in the unique exhibition From Dada to Surrealism: Jewish Avant-Garde Artists from Romania, 1910-1938 running until October 2, 2011, in the Jewish Historical Museum, Amsterdam. The exhibition confirms the importance of Bucharest in European avant-garde art. Also, the lives and work of these seven men shed light on the relationship between Jewish identity and radical modernity.


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Past Clients
What they say
What they say
I have no hesitation in recommending Chris as a voice talent. He is extremely versatile, reliable and creative. He delivers on time and is detail oriented, a major selling point, particularly if you need a fast turn around.To fully understand his range, it is well worth checking his website...
Andrew Hagen
Schtung Media
Chris is a master of character voices and voice acting. He made our script come alive in ways we couldn't have imagined, and understood our direction perfectly. I would highly recommend Chris Mezzolesta for voice-over work.
Bob Emmet
BE Studios
Chris Mezzolesta has been the Voice of Senova for 10 years, working with us on more than 50 eLearning projects. The quality of his work is fantastic; he gives us exactly what we request in terms of tone, pacing, and enunciation. But his value goes far beyond reading talent. The recording quality is perfect.
Chris Cole
Senova Training Corporation
Turnaround time is always extremely quick, regardless of circumstance or short-notice requirements - Chris makes it happen! He coordinates other talent for us when we use multiple character voiceovers. He has become an integral part of our team and process that we can fire off scripts with no instructions and the recordings come back quickly and flawlessly.
Chris Cole
Senova Training Corporation
Chris makes voiceover a stress-free part of our training development projects.
Chris Cole
Senova Training Corporation
Chris is professional, fast, and his reads are always spot on. I would recommend him to anyone.
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text:
An SMTP instance has the following methods:
level) |
[host[, port]]) |
cmd, [, argstring]) |
This returns a 2-tuple composed of a numeric response code and the actual response line (multiline responses are joined into one long line.)
In normal operation it should not be necessary to call this method explicitly. It is used to implement other methods and may be useful for testing private extensions.
If the connection to the server is lost while waiting for the reply, SMTPServerDisconnected will be raised.
[hostname]) |
In normal operation it should not be necessary to call this method explicitly. It will be implicitly called by the sendmail() when necessary.
[hostname]) |
Unless you wish to use has_extn() before sending mail, it should not be necessary to call this method explicitly. It will be implicitly called by sendmail() when necessary.
name) |
address) |
Note: Many sites disable SMTP "VRFY" in order to foil spammers.
user, password) |
[keyfile[, certfile]]) |
If keyfile and certfile are provided, these are passed to the socket module's ssl() function.
from_addr, to_addrs, msg[, mail_options, rcpt_options]) |
Note: The from_addr and to_addrs parameters are used to construct the message envelope used by the transport agents. The SMTP does not modify the message headers in any way.
If there has been no previous "EHLO" or "HELO" command this session, this method tries ESMTP "EHLO" first. If the server does ESMTP, message size and each of the specified options will be passed to it (if the option is in the feature set the server advertises). If "EHLO" fails, "HELO" will be tried and ESMTP options suppressed.
This method will return normally if the mail is accepted for at least one recipient. Otherwise it will throw an exception. That is, if this method does not throw an exception, then someone should get your mail. If this method does not throw an exception, it returns a dictionary, with one entry for each recipient that was refused. Each entry contains a tuple of the SMTP error code and the accompanying error message sent by the server.
This method may raise the following exceptions:
Unless otherwise noted, the connection will be open even after an exception is raised.
) |
Low-level methods corresponding to the standard SMTP/ESMTP commands "HELP", "RSET", "NOOP", "MAIL", "RCPT", and "DATA" are also supported. Normally these do not need to be called directly, so they are not documented here. For details, consult the module code.
See About this document... for information on suggesting changes.


text: American officials are pondering whether to strike ISIS elements in Syria to better contain the group's fearsome power, following its horrific execution of James Foley and the direct threats it has leveled against the United States. As they consider how best to confront the organization, there is good news: The United States and its friends have scored some successes against ISIS in the past month. The administration provided material support to Iraqi Kurdish Peshmerga and Iraqi special operations forces, and with judicious use of airstrikes enabled them to repel ISIS attacks northwest and northeast of Baghdad. The Obama administration wisely understood that these military operations are only a short-term fix. The only sustainable solution is a new Iraqi government able to rally a large majority of Iraqis across ethnic and sectarian lines to fight the Islamic State in Syria. Iraqis have come together before to contain such extremists, and they could again. Iraq's restive Sunni Arab population, furious at former Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki, backed ISIS in the Spring, but now Sunni Arab tribal figures in Anbar and Kirkuk, as well as some of the leaders from the urban business-political elite in Mosul and Salah ad-Din, have asked the Iraqi central government in Baghdad for help to fight the organization. Success is not assured, but the picture is brighter than a month ago. American pressure – and tying military assistance to concrete progress toward assembling a broad-based national government – have encouraged the hesitant Iraqis forward. The United States needs to sustain that approach. But even with progress in Iraq, the United States and its friends cannot contain the Islamic State for long when it has a vast safe zone in Syria into which its fighters can fall back to rest, regroup, and fight again. As we contemplate a response, we should consider whether any of the strategies used recently in Iraq could also be used in Syria. In Iraq, the United States identified friends willing to fight the Islamic State on the ground. The Iraqi Kurdish Peshmerga were not perfect – they are not a regular army, their command structure is at times unwieldy, and their political agendas are not always compatible with ours. However, they were clearly able to help blunt the ISIS advance, so cooperating with them was sensible. Similarly, providing far more help to moderate elements of the Syrian armed opposition makes huge sense. They are motivated and have been locked in combat against ISIS for nine months. Despite fighting an uphill battle against the well-armed regime of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, heavily backed by Iran and Russia, they have advanced in some regions. They share the same frustrating imperfections – such as lack of professional discipline – as the Peshmerga and the Iraqi military, but if they were better armed and financed, the moderate Syrian fighters could be helpful in repelling ISIS. They already did so by expelling it from northwest Syria earlier this year and the Damascus area this summer. With stronger cash flows from governments in the West and Gulf, they could also lure Syrians away from ISIS bankrolls. American airstrikes might be needed in Syria, but that would not be the most important tactic for success, nor would more material aid to the rebels be sufficient to contain the Islamic State over the long term. As in Iraq, there has to be a political angle as well. Helping a weakened al-Assad regime to consolidate its position in Damascus is not a recipe for sustainable success. The regime can't roll back the Islamic State now – it is attracting scores of new jihadis every day. Helping al-Assad would multiply the numbers of recruits. Rather, as in Iraq, Syria needs a new government. The U.S. had hoped this would be negotiated in Geneva, where an international conference early this year aimed to find a political solution to the Syria conflict, but al-Assad rejected any serious negotiation. His Russian and Iranian allies, estimating that he could survive, and seeing no alternative, made no effort to convince the regime to do otherwise. Six months later, however, the regime's pillars of support are weaker. There are reports that the regime earlier this month executed three air force pilots who had refused to obey orders. The minority Alawite sect that has backed al-Assad is openly grumbling about heavy losses in an endless war against the moderate rebels and now the ruthless Islamic State. A publicity campaign called "Scream of the Nation" is under way in the Alawite heartland. Its complaint: Assad keeps his throne while our children go to their coffins. We need moderate armed opposition leaders in Syria to capitalize on this weariness by moving politically, not just militarily. As we boost aid to the moderate armed rebels, we must condition that help on their reaching out to disaffected regime supporters and developing with them a common political stance for a new, negotiated national unity government, with or without al-Assad. The al-Assad regime won't go to the table easily, and the moderate rebels will need more help – perhaps even hardware, like more mortars and rockets to hit airfields and bases and further rattle al-Assad's war machine. Substantially boosting help to the moderate opposition would also compel Russia and Iran to rethink their blank check to al-Assad, especially if there is a better alternative route to contain ISIS. As it did with Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki, Iran might consider other reasonable alternatives to the current Syrian leadership. Iran won't, however, until it recognizes that al-Assad can't win and can't rally enough support to contain the Islamic State. One prominent American observer says it is folly to think that we can aid the moderate armed fighters to topple al-Assad. But toppling wasn't our goal before and shouldn't be now. We should aim to help the Syrian opposition inflict enough pain on the regime so that, despite al-Assad, the regime finally agrees to negotiate a new government whose first task will be to fight the Islamic State and eventually expel it from Syria. In Syria's brutal, three-sided war, the U.S. has no easy options. We have never controlled events there. It is also true that civil wars don't always end in happy settlements. However, our inability to steer perfectly or to guarantee the best outcome can't be an excuse to maintain our current approach. Read CNNOpinion's new Flipboard magazine. Follow us on Twitter @CNNOpinion. Join us on Facebook.com/CNNOpinion.


text:
Rediff.com, Last updated on: June 06, 2012
The latest episode of Aamir Khan's [ Images ] television showSatyamev Jayate probed into malpractices that some doctors follow, looking at the way they dole out wrong treatments for monetary gains. It has understandably not gone down too well with the medical fraternity.
Dr Sanjay Nagral — a consultant surgeon, department of surgical gastroenterology , Jaslok Hospital and Research Centre, Mumbai [Images ] — explains what exactly has hurt the doctors.
Satyameva Jayate's recent episode on healthcare in India [ Images ] has created quite a stir within my fraternity. What began as benign posts on social media and closed door conversations has snowballed into a movement against what is being described as a 'diatribe' by Aamir Khan against the medical profession.
In an additional bizarre twist, the Indian Medical Association, the apex body of medical professionals in the country, is asking Aamir to 'apologise' and, in what can only be termed as an acute case of silliness, has called for 'boycotting' him.
The issues raised in the show, and the profession's response to them, have important lessons. Lest they get lost in the din and drama, here is a contrarian view for the record.
What is it exactly in that episode that has hurt my colleagues?
From my reading of the various statements, it seems there are some common themes that many are upset about.
First, the show 'exaggerated' the extent of unethical practice in the profession. Second, it showed only the 'bad' side of the profession, not the 'good'. Third, it was factually incorrect at times.
There were those who wanted to know why doctors are being targeted when the entire society is corrupt.
Finally, the one below the belt: Who is Aamir Khan to pontificate about service to the poor when he charges crores of rupees for the show?
The last one, though probably the most superfluous, is the most emotive of all.
Is it really a revelation that 'stars' like Aamir charge such amounts for television serials? If Aamir declares he has not charged for the show, will it in any way alter the response to the show?
Post your comments on Satyamev Jayate here.
Now, we come to the more substantive issues.
What was one of the unethical practices that the show highlighted and 'exaggerated'? The episode talked about the practice of 'cuts' and 'commissions' that are offered by doctors, labs and hospitals for referral of patients. These are cash transactions; they are not revealed in official documents and are arbitrary in amount.
Although there is no documentation of the extent of this practice (Not surprising! How many would admit to it?), having had a ringside view in a large metropolis for many years, I would suggest it involves a large majority of referrals.
We can quibble over the precise extent, but that would just serve to obfuscate the issue at hand.
Hasn't such 'fee splitting' become so commonplace and institutionalised that, as a young doctor, if you don't participate in it, you are effectively ostracised? Isn't this activity non-transparent and doesn't it increase the cost of health care and affect quality? Has any medical association ever tried to build internal resistance or opposition to such a patently corrupt practice?
The show talked about the shocking state of the Medical Council of India and how its president, Dr Ketan Desai, was arrested by the CBI in 2010 on charges of corruption. He was thereafter removed from the post of MCI president by the government and is now cooling his heels in Tihar jail.
Desai amassed crores (one estimate pegs the amount of money recovered from the raid on his home at Rs 1800 crore (Rs 18,000 million)) from the lucrative business of recognition of medical colleges.
The episode also showed how Desai, who had been indicted by the courts and temporarily sacked in 2002, staged a return. What the episode did not mention is that the same individual was also the national president of the Indian Medical Association.
Thus, a convicted individual not just survived but actually thrived for an entire decade at the highest levels in the Indian medical establishment both as the president of the Medical Council as well as the IMA. Isn't this a reflection of the permissiveness and ambivalence medical professionals have developed towards corruption in their own representative bodies?
The current president Dr K K Talwar, who appeared on the show, had no credible answer when asked why not a single doctor in India has had his licence cancelled when the General Medical Council of the UK figures showed substantive numbers every year.
One of the 'errors' repeatedly pointed out by those outraged by the show is the numbers that were quoted about private and public medical colleges in India. One wonders, though, what is more important — the precise number or the fact that India can be counted among the countries that have the highest number of private medical colleges in the world? Isn't the crass commerce of medical education in these colleges, where seats are sold at high prices, the real issue?
Isn't it true that private medical college empires have grown because they have managed to hire and retain medical teachers, set up arrangements with hospitals to provide 'clinical material' in the form of patients and get recognition for postgraduate courses from inspection teams consisting largely of doctors?
Of course, there is a large industry supported by politicians at work here but the collusion of the profession is substantial.
Did the episode show examples of 'good' doctors and the positive side of things?
To be fair, the show did profile alternative models quite extensively. The issue of generic drugs and the work of Dr Samit Sharma in Rajasthan [ Images ] were highlighted in some detail.
That they predictably chose media favourite Dr Devi Shetty, when they could have profiled any of the hundreds of brave, committed doctors who have chosen to work under harsh conditions in rural India to come up with alternative models of people-centric health care, is a pity. But some of this is inherent to the medium and its compulsions.
And, finally, a very old complaint — why should doctors be 'targeted' when the entire society is commercial and corrupt?
It is obvious that, unlike other professions, health care has a huge social dimension and hence will inevitably be scrutinised more intensely. But it is exactly this aspect that also gives doctors more visibility (don't many of our colleagues enjoy a lot of media publicity on a regular basis?).
Historically medicine has a social contract which allows it a unique form of self-regulation in the form of medical councils, a front on which we have failed miserably. So whether it is the killing of the female foetus or the sale of kidneys, the state has had to step in with new laws because self-regulation failed.
The principle of market economics have been rejected by most societies, including western nations, as inappropriate to health care. In a strange paradox, India has one of the most privatised of health care systems.
Now, before my colleagues say that this is a result of state policy, which it essentially is, we have to admit India's medical profession is a willing and enthusiastic participant in this process. Witness in the current boom of market medicine a new entrepreneurial spirit that is sweeping the profession. But the same market medicine, which uses media and television to sell its wares, is disturbed when the medium turns around and asks disturbing questions.
Was the show free of blemishes? Of course not.
There were occasional moments, like when the rather improbable allegation of a 'liver transplant' being advised for gastroenteritis was made by a member of the audience. Or when a family alleged that they did not know that a pancreas would be transplanted with the kidney in a large private hospital in Bengaluru [ Images ]. But these aberrations should not distract from the big issues that the show managed to raise.
Rampant commercialisation of the practice and of medical education, hard selling by pharmaceuticals, the high cost of drugs and the shocking price differences for the same drug from different brands are all highly disturbing parts of our healthcare policy.
That a popular film star with a huge audience articulated on prime time television what health activists have been saying for years is perhaps what has disturbed some in my fraternity.
Organisations like the IMA should actually seize the moment and ask Aamir to commit to a sustained public campaign on universal health coverage and the right to health. That would also test Aamir on a charge that has been made about him; that he raises social concerns transiently to stimulate interest in an ongoing release.
As for the boycott call, I would suggest that Aamir doesn't really need to worry on that count. He has to just sneeze or cough and there will be a bevy of doctors running to attend on him.
After all, being a film star's physician counts a lot in a doctor's professional trajectory in India.
Related articles
- Aamir says he won't apologise to IMA (thehindu.com)
- Say sorry, Indian Medical Association tells Aamir (ibnlive.in.com)


text:
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text:
Throughout the succession planning process, the Esther family has made a lot of decisions. The buy-sell agreement between Chet Esther and son Ryan, and then another buy-sell agreement between Ryan and brother Chad in their new venture, might have been the toughest. A buy-sell agreement spells out how, when and why an entity can be bought or sold by one of the owners.
"We started the process by getting a checklist from the Farm Journal Legacy Project website, which we took to our attorney," Esther says. "He looked it over and gave us homework, such as how to value the entity and how to determine permanent disability."
To help with those questions, the Esthers went to their accountant to get his insight and opinion on valuation and disability.
"That document has a lot more to it than I ever dreamed," Esther says. "When I start thinking about the five D's [death, divorce, disability, dissolution and debt], I lose confidence in my decisions quickly.
"After going through this exercise, I realize it's better to talk about it now than try to figure out how to compensate a grieving spouse so she can move on with her life after the fact," he adds.
The buy-sell agreement might be the most important but most misunderstood and unappreciated document in the succession planning arsenal, notes Kevin Spafford, Farm Journal succession planning expert. In its basic form, a buy-sell agreement ensures the business can continue in the face of disaster. It insulates the operation from unwelcome owners. A well-written buysell agreement might even function as a referee if an ownership group becomes stressed to the breaking point because of a disagreement.
To help business owners decide whether a buy-sell agreement is truly necessary, Farm Journal succession planning expert Kevin Spafford has devised the following questions:
1. Is Ownership by Outsiders Undesirable? This factor is most common in family organizations, but it can exist in any organization in which an existing group (in this case, owners) is tight-knit. A buy-sell agreement ensures that ownership interests cannot fall outside the existing group without the group's approval.
2. Is Ownership by Outsiders Subject to Approval? This is another common factor in the family enterprise, and it can be especially troublesome in a family farming operation where the existing owners are all immediate family and/or lineal descendants. The provisions of a buy-sell agreement should be written to ensure that all new ownership interests must be approved prior to transition.
3. Can Future Ownership Conflicts Be Foreseen? If the remaining owners have difficulties coexisting with family members or other co-owners, a buy-sell agreement can ensure that they are awarded first right of refusal for any interests that might become available due to death, divorce, disability or dissolution.
To learn more about the components of a buy-sell agreement, visit www.FarmJournalLegacyProject.com/buy_sell
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text:
Jim Casey talks with Jake Owen about:
- creating his sixth studio album, Greetings From . . . Jake
- what ties the album together
- picking the 14 songs for the new album
- the all-star group of Nashville songwriters who have cuts on the album
- the success of singles "I Was Jack (You Were Diane)" and "Down to the Honkytonk"
- earning a nomination for ACM Single of the Year for "Down to the Honkytonk"
- selecting "River of Time" for the new album
- having fun and "drifting through life"
- hitting the festival circuit this spring and summer
Podcast participants:
- Jake Owen
- Jim Casey, editor in chief of Nash Country Daily